These days, it's hard to swing a dead cat without hitting a Naruto game on some system. Everyone's favorite spiky haired ninja is back to his skull cracking tricks in Naruto: Ulitmate Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress as he and his team of intrepid ninjas fight their way to the top of the titular Phantom Fortress that appears above Naruto's village. The story mode, various fighting modes and wireless play provide a veritable feast of Naruto fighting goodness, however there's so much here from the previous game on the PSP that chances are, if you're a serious Naruto fan, you've already experienced it.

It's hard to imagine what goes on in the mind of a villain that would compel them to summon a huge, mysterious tower and then make the hero battle through rooms and rooms of slot machines, however this is but one small part of what takes place in The Mugenjo, the game's story mode. The premise of the story mode is simple. On each floor of the fortress there are multiple rooms. Some rooms, like treasure rooms and healing rooms don't need to be summoned however other rooms are blank and can only be traversed by using scrolls to summon one of many different rooms: an amusement room, a tree climbing room, a battle room, a find the clone shell game room, a press the buttons when shown mini-game room and a trivia game room. As you select a scroll to use to summon a room, it is replaced with another scroll and the cycle builds anew. Occasionally you'll also come to a drama room, which stretches the meaning of the word "drama" to new and ridiculous lengths, in which the story is moved forward, usually after you and your ninja teammates beat the snot out of someone.

As you progress through the floors you'll come across new characters to add to your team. At any one point, you can have one team leader and three team members, each with different skills that can be used outside of rooms. For example, Naruto can destroy obstacles, so if there's a pile of rocks in front of a treasure room, using the skill will remove the obstacle and let you plunder to your heart's content. Skills are only refilled at healing rooms, and your team members retain whatever healing loss they sustained during battles, so picking the right teammates, and choosing your battles wisely is imperative. The various mini-games are fun the first time you play them but quickly get old. Trivia questions are recycled throughout the game, so even those with zero knowledge of Naruto lore can learn all of the answers quickly. Even if you don't pay attention to the answers, or are the world's worst tree climber, failing the mini game rooms results only in a dearth of Ninja Points, the game's currency for buying extra items. On the other hand, failing a battle requires you to fight it again until you succeed.

Battles take place on 2-D stages however there are plenty of vertical levels as well as foreground and background levels so you can bounce around the stage to either get an aerial advantage on your opponent or bust up the various containers that appear to provide health and chakra boosts or items to be used in the fight. Combat is handled with the directional pad and the circle button and has all of the depth you can expect from a combat system utilizing the directional pad and one button. Smack your opponent enough and you'll build up your chakra meter. Once the chakra meter is at the max you can channel your aura by pressing the triangle button and if you connect on your next hit you'll unleash a special attack. Each character has only one special attack animation, however they're all done really well so you won't tire of them too much. In addition to your basic attacks and the special attack you can use items found while fighting, or items you've equipped prior to entering the ring. Battles are fluid and fast paced with plenty of great animation and zero slow down, which is a good thing as a dropped frame can be the difference between victory and a face full of shuriken.

If the story mode isn't your cup of tea and all you really want to do is whup up on Naruto characters there are plenty of modes to provide you with all of the ninja whupping action you need. You can play a single match against the CPU, or assemble a team of ninjas to battle against other ninja teams over multiple stages. The health of your team members replenishes a little after each stage, however once a team member is down, they're down for the count, be it the first stage or the fourth. Finally, you can battle wirelessly over the PSP's ad-hoc connection as well as share a copy of the game with someone who doesn't have it. Fighting wirelessly is as smooth as fighting the CPU however the load times, particularly on game sharing, make glaciers look like steroid abusing cheetahs.